A Japanese recipe with Chinese origins, this recipe makes a generous dish for two to share.

Ingredients

Crab Omelette

• 4 large eggs
• 100 g crab meat
• 50 g coldwater shrimp
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) dashi or no-salt-added chicken stock
• 6-8 dried wood ear mushrooms
• 4 scallions, white portions only, finely sliced
• 1/8 tsp salt
• vegetable oil for frying

Sauce

• 200 ml (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) dashi or no-salt-added chicken stock
• 10 g ginger, thinly sliced
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) shoyu (soy sauce) or tamari
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) rice vinegar
• 15 g (1 tbsp) sugar
• salt to taste
• 5 g (1 tsp) potato starch, or corn starch

To Serve

• 250 g (2 cups) cooked rice
• 2-3 scallions, green portions only
• gari (pickled ginger)

Instructions

1. Prepare the rice ahead of time and set aside.
2. Soak the mushrooms in warm water for about 10 minutes. Once they’re soft, drain them and cut them into thin strips.
3. Prepare the dashi if using (see note below if you’re new to making dashi).
4. Crack eggs into a large bowl and whisk thoroughly. Add the crab, shrimp, dashi (or stock), sliced mushroom, scallions and salt. Stir to combine.
5. Add a little vegetable oil (about 2 tsp) to a medium frying pan over medium heat. Tilt the pan to spread the oil evenly. Add the egg mixture to the hot pan and stir quickly and evenly as it begins to cook. As the egg begins to set, stir more gently, moving the top (liquid) layer of the egg. Reduce the heat to low and cook the omelette (without stirring) until just set. Ideally, the top of the omelette should be soft and the slightest bit runny when you take it out of the pan.
6. Invert the cooked omelette over a mound of white rice (see note), then pour the gravy over it all. Top with scallion greens and ideally a little gari (pickled ginger). Serve immediately

Recipe Notes

Making Dashi: To make dashi, pour the water into a large stock pot and add a strip of kombu (about 10×15 cm [4×6 inches]). Bring to a simmer or very gentle boil, then add katsuobushi and remove from heat. Let the dashi stand for at least 15 minutes, then strain out the solids and reserve the liquid.If you want to make your dashi vegetarian, simply omit the katsuobushi or add the liquid from re-hydrating 3-4 dried shiitake mushrooms in its place.

The Rice/Serving: To serve the tenshindon, put a generous helping of rice (enough for two) into a bowl, then invert this in a larger bowl. This will give you a dome-shaped mound of rice that you can serve the omelette over. When you pour the sauce over everything, it forms a sort of ‘egg island’ in the middle. Looks great, tastes better.

Developed for BC Egg by @Diversivore.com